You Can't Judge A Book By It's Cover?

Hey blog buddies! It is Sunday night yet again. This Sunday night I am writing my blog instead of watching the Grammy’s. Yes, I procrastinated writing my blog. Again. It’s really fine though because I had a good weekend. As Olaf from Frozen did not say “Some things are worth procrastinating for”. Anyway, let’s get down to business.  

Tonight we are going to dive deep into some book covers and it is going to be great! Here are my initial observations of each cover:

Cover #1) “Blonde Girl Looking Somber Surrounded by Vegetation”

This cover depicts a blonde girl, which I assume is Kathy, looking sad. She is surrounded by nature. To me, this cover is not very intriguing. It is just a girl in a field of some sort. However, it does leave a lot of questions unanswered with the quote on the cover. The words “melancholy and alarming” in the review are what would draw me to the book if it had this cover. In comparison to the other covers, it is less ominous and suggestive. I think the purpose of this cover is to purely look nice and leave the reader unsure of what is inside.

Cover #2) Ominous Creepy Boat

This cover depicts a boat shrouded in fog with tones of yellow and black. It is a really ominous cover and makes me think that the book will be very tense and scary. It seems as if the book is a horror novel, which is completely misleading. I think the purpose of the cover is to draw the reader in. In comparison to the other covers, it is more creepy and enticing. Out of all the covers, this one seems the most marketable.

Cover #3)  Dark Organ Goth

Instead of using reviews and accolades plastered across the cover to entice readers, this cover relies heavily on the cover art. This cover definitely leaves the most questions unanswered. If I were observing this cover without having read the novel, I would be intrigued by the meaning of the human body on the cover. I like this cover because it is related to the actual plot of the book, though it depicts a rather insignificant part of the story. In comparison to the rest of the covers, it is the most striking.

Cover #4) Blurry Kathy

This is by far my favorite cover out of the four. It perfectly represents the essence of NLMG. The use of the blurry image is used to represent how time was fleeting in the story. The purpose of the cover was not necessarily to sell books, but to encapsulate the book. In comparison to the other covers, it is much more symbolic and meaningful.

Okay, now that I am done making those observations I am going to compare two covers in a more in-depth fashion. Those covers are going to be…”Blurry Kathy” and “Dark Organ Goth”.

Blurry Kathy, {Part 2}-

Blurry Kathy is obviously an artistic masterpiece. She reminds me of the words blurry, time, fleeting, whirlwind, and confusion. Blurry Kath reminds me of a fragment of time, that is distant and almost incoherent. What Blurry Kath truly reminds me of, though, is NLMG! I feel as though Kathy’s life in NLMG was so short, a blur if you will. If I hadn’t already read the novel, I would have no idea what it would be about. If I had to guess, I probably would have said the novel was about the death of a child. As I stated previously, this image has crazy parallels to the text. I am pretty sure Kathy is depicted on the cover and the reader is looking at her rather than Kathy looking at her life. I think people that are really into literature and deep philosophical stuff would be really into making and reading this book. Out of all the covers, this one really reflects the ideal of the human condition the most.

Dark Organ Goth, {Part 2}-

Dark Organ Goth is an interesting cover. When I think of Dark Organ Goth, I think of the words eerie, dark, cagey, and blunt. It makes me think of somebody imprisoned by their body or their circumstances, just like in NLMG. I think that Dark Organ Goth really plays on that imprisonment aspect while portraying the very basic, unimportant detail of organ donation. Another interesting element of the cover is the background of the trees. I think trees can double as another barrier to symbolize secrecy and ignorance; themes present in the book. The people who would be interested in making and reading this book would be people into dark novels with depressing themes. The cover just gives off that vibe. I liked this cover a lot though.

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